Geoff Smart

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Geoff’s professional mission is to help leaders hire and develop talented teams that deliver results.

Geoff is Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm whose Credo begins, “We exist to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.” The firm was named one of the “world’s top firms” in Broderick’s The Art of Managing Professional Services, and was profiled in Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto, Tom Peters’ The Little Big Things, and George Anders’ The Rare Find. ghSMART is the subject of two Harvard Business School Cases, titled “ghSMART & Co.: Pioneering in Professional Services.”

Geoff is co‐author, with his colleague Randy Street, of the New York Times bestselling book Who: The A Method for Hiring. Shanghai Daily named Who a “Top 5 Business Book in China” and Canada’s Globe and Mail named it the “#1 Best Business and Management Book of 2009.” Geoff is author of the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller Leadocracy: Hiring More Great Leaders (Like You) into Government, which won the 2013 IPPY Gold Medal for Best Business Book of the Year. In the 1990s, Geoff cocreated the Topgrading brand for talent management.

As a social entrepreneur, Geoff is the Founder of two 501c3 not‐for‐profit organizations. SMARTKids Leadership Program™ provides a customized program of 10 years of leadership tutoring and a $100,000 scholarship to top students with leadership potential from low‐income communities. Second, The Leaders Initiative™ seeks to elevate humanity by identifying, developing, and deploying society’s greatest leaders into government. Geoff and his ghSMART colleagues volunteer as leadership advisors in the fields of education, public health, and government. Geoff has also served as Leadership Advisor and Chief Talent Officer for the State of Colorado, a 33,000‐employee, $24b organization.

Geoff earned a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Northwestern University, an M.A., and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Claremont Graduate University, where he was mentored by Peter F. Drucker. Geoff was elected to Sigma Xi, the honorary society for holders of doctoral degrees, and is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).